cumference of the tree's stem 2 feet from the ground, 22 feet 9 inches; 12 feet from the ground, 20 feet 6 inches; 22 feet from the ground, 16 feet 6 inches; 32 feet from the ground, 15 feet; 48 feet from the ground, 9 feet.

Next, regarding the usefulness of the Oak as an ornamental tree, we must always have regard to the soil we have to plant, and the rate at which a tree grows. On these circumstances our latest and practically good authority is Mr. Brown, who, in his volume, "The Forester," says:-"The rate of growth and quality of Oak timber, like those of all other trees, depend very much upon the nature of the soil and situation upon which it is grown; and the result of my observations is that the best-grown Oak trees are to be found on a heavy deep clay soil, or heavy loam of a deep description, into which the roots can get well down without any check from a change in the character of the subsoil. On a light loam I have seen good timber of Q. pedunculata produced. On this description of land I have seen trees from 12 to 18 feet in circumference of stem; but under these circumstances as to soil, the trees are generally found short of stem and large-headed in proportion; while trees of the same circumference of stem, and grown on deep heavy land, carry their stems very much higher, and therefore form more proportionate and ornamental trees. On high-lying and exposed situations the Oak will grow, and even become timber of useful size, although the soil be but poor; but to produce Oak of the best description, whether as to the dimensions of the tree or quality of its timber, it must be planted on rather a low-lying part, and on a heavy or loamy soil." The rate of increase in the diameter of the stem is recorded by Mr. Brown as follows:

branches. One of the great ornaments of a tree is its ramifications, which ought to appear here and there under the foliage even when the tree is in full leaf." Strutt adds, "Beauty united with strength characterises all its parts. The leaves, elegant in their outline, are strongly ribbed, and firmly attached to the spray, which, although thin and excursive, is yet bold and determined in its angles; whilst the abrupt and tortuous irregularity of its massive branches admirably contrasts with the general richness and density of its clustered foliage. Even as a sapling, in its slender gracefulness it exhibits sufficient firmness and indications of vigour to predicate the future monarch of the wood, a state, indeed, which it is slow to assume, but which it retains through many ages; and when at length it is brought to acknowledge the influence of time, and becomes bald with dry antiquity,' no other production of the forest can be admitted as its rival in majestic and venerable decay. The general form of the Oak is expansive, luxuriant, and spreading. Its character, both with respect to its whole and to its larger masses of foliage, is best expressed by the pencil in bold and roundish lines, whether as single trees, as groups, or as forming the line of a distant forest." "The genuine bark of an Oak," says Gilpin, "is of an ash colour, though it is difficult to distinguish any part of it from the mosses that overspread it, for no Oak, I suppose, was ever without a greater or less proportion of these picturesque appendages. The lower parts, about the roots, are often possessed by that green velvet moss, which, in a still greater degree, commonly occupies the bole of the Beech, though the beauty and brilliancy of it lose much when in decay. As the trunk rises you see the brimstone colour taking possession in patches. Of this there are two principal kinds-a smooth sort, which spreads like a scurf over the bark; and a rough sort, which hangs in little rich knots and fringes. I call it a brimstone hue by way of general distinction, but it sometimes inclines to an olive, and sometimes to a light green. Intermixed with these mosses you often find a species almost perfectly white. Before I was acquainted with it, I have sometimes thought the tree whitewashed. Here and there a touch of it gives a lustre to the trunk, and has its effect; yet, on the whole, it is a nuisance; for, as it generally begins to thrive when the other mosses begin to wither (as if the decaying bark were its proper nutriment), it is rarely accompanied with any of the more beautiful species of its kind, and, when thus unsupported, it always disgusts. This white moss, by the way, is esteemed a certain mark of age, and, when it prevails in any degree, is a clear indication that the vigour of the tree is declining. We find, also, another species of moss of a dark brown colour, inclining nearly to black, another of an ashy colour, and another of a dingy yellow. We may observe, also, touches of red, and sometimes, but rarely, a bright yellow, which is like a gleam of sunshine; and in many trees you will see one species growing upon another, the knotted brimstonecoloured fringe clinging to a lighter species, or the black soften-years of age, 40 feet high; at forty years of age, 48 feet high; ing into red. All these excrescences, under whatever name distinguished, add a great richness to trees; and when they are blended harmoniously, as is generally the case, the rough and furrowed trunk of an old Oak adorned with these pleasing appendages is an object which will long detain the picturesque eye."

"The Great Oak of Panshanger" is characterised by all the attractions thus described, and therefore, as well as for its grandeur of form, size, and age, we have selected it as a model specimen of our national tree. Oaks must have been abundant in this manor, even in the days of William the Conqueror, for Domesday Book records that its woods afforded "pannage for forty hogs," and various records notice the production of oaken timber on other parts of the valley, through which flows the river Mimeram. On the north-east bank stands "The Great Panshanger Oak." In 1719 this tree was measured, and found to contain 315 cubic feet of timber. In 1804 it was again measured, and then contained 796 cubic feet, including those branches which were sufficiently large to be considered timber. It was called "the Great Oak" in 1709, and when Arthur Young measured it in 1804 it was 17 feet in circumference at 5 feet from the ground; he adds, "It is one of the finest Oaks which I have seen, though only 12 feet to the first bough." Our portrait is of the tree when it was in the meridian of its vigour, but Mr. Ruffett, the gardener at Panshanger, informs us that "the top branches are now decaying, although the lower part appears as sound as any young growing tree." Mr. Ruffett adds that the extreme height is between 65 and 70 feet; extent of branches from stem of tree, 48 feet; cir

AGES OF TREES.

Oak at 10 years old..

20

80

40

50

60

70

80

90

For ornamental planting it is of more importance to know the rate of growth in height, and on this point Mr. Brown has obligingly written to us as follows:-"On the average, and on a favourable soil and site, Oaks at ten years of age will stand 15 feet high; at twenty years of age, 28 feet high; at thirty at fifty years of age, 55 feet high; at sixty years of age, 62 feet high; at seventy years of age, 66 feet high; at eighty years of age, 70 feet high; at ninety years of age, 73 feet high; at a hundred years of age, 75 feet high. You may safely publish these heights as the average of the Oak at the ages stated, for they are from actual measurements taken by myself at various times, and intended to be used in the next edition of my book."

The other uses of the Oak are thus epitomised by Dr. Hogg in his "Vegetable Kingdom:"-" The wood of the Oak is harder and more solid than that of any other European timber tree, and, as is well known, is largely employed in shipbuilding, carpentry, waggon work, cabinet-making, mill work, and coopering. The bark is of great utility, as furnishing in greatest abundance the article known as tan for tanning hides and skins, and this property is owing to the presence of a great quantity of tannic acid; it also contains a peculiar bitter principle, known by the name of quercin; after the bark has been used in the tanyard it is employed for making hotbeds in forcing houses. Acorns, or the fruit of the Oak, are highly nutritious to various animals, but particularly to hogs, which rapidly fatten on them; and it has been observed that those are best for the purpose that have been washed and dried by exposure to the air. In Turkey the acorns of several sorts of Oak are buried in the ground, in the same way as cacao beans are, to deprive them of their bitterness; they are then dried, washed, and reduced to powder with sugar and aromatics; the substance thus formed is called palamonte, and the food that is prepared from it is called racahout, and is used in the

Errington. We have seen men employed whole days in uncovering cold pits to give them a little light in cold, frosty, dull weather in midwinter, and then begin to cover up again as soon as they were uncovered. If the plants were safe, and at a low temperature, the daily work of uncovering might have been saved. When there is only a little litter it may be of importance to shake it up instead of removing it, as every shaking-up would present a new line of radiation, and as often as that line was broken, frost and heat alike would have to begin their efforts anew. When we have a covering of snow we have so long regarded it as one of the best we could have, that in the case of cold pits and frames we are always loth to remove it, more especially as it is hardly possible to replace it. But for this consideration we might have swept off ours in the middle of the week. A few inches of snow will keep out a keen frost. The looser the snow is, the more effectual it will be. When from sun or a shower the surface has been solidified, it becomes then a better conductor of heat and cold, and we have often settled that matter and brought it back to its normal state by breaking the firm surface with the teeth of a rake. A great many of these homely matters have been lost sight of in gardening, because all accelerating is so easily done by hot-water pipes; but if hot water is to be obtained from coal at from 45s. to 50s. per ton, even proprietors far from poor may come to see the necessity of getting as much as they can without the aid of coal heat at such an enormous price.

part of the pathway, no flue or mode of heating thus presenting itself, whilst the warmed pathway is very agreeable in cold weather. In a house of considerable size, or even houses to be heated by hot water, and where in these dear coal days it is desirable to make as much of the heat from the fire as possible, then a flue should proceed through the house, or make turns in the back wall, before going directly from the boiler up the chimney, with nothing to keep the heat from wasting except a damper. We thus had a large conservatory heated when coals had to be carted fourteen or sixteen miles, and the flue was almost as useful as the hot water.

In the case of flues alone, it is as well if there be no dips from the furnace to the chimney, as the more and deeper the dips, under paths, &c., the more height will be required for the chimney. But failures in heating, and smoky and too-muchheated stokeholes, do not proceed so much from such a cause as from inattention to two or three simple matters. First, make sure that the iron bars of your furnace are from 18 to 24 inches-30 inches if you can go down conveniently-below the level of the bottom of the flue. Secondly, we have no objection to a fair length of a furnace, but do not have much of a dead rest, say not more than 6 or 8 inches, at the farther end; the grating bars of the furnace going pretty well up to the extreme end of the furnace. Thirdly, what rest you have should be in the shape of a stout iron plate, half an inch thick, and from 8 to 12 inches in length, close to the furnace door. From want of attention to these matters there is often a want of draught, suffocating back smoke in the stokehole, a red burning heat at the furnace door, and a much higher temperature in the stokehole than could by any means be got in the house. In a number of cases, of nice though small houses, that have within a few years come under our notice, the evils could chiefly be traced to the desire of saving in these cheap days, so as to dispense with the dumb iron plate inside the furnace door. The cheapframework and furnace door being burned by their closeness to furnace bars. We have seen the furnace doors gleaming red with but little heat in the flue, as the cold fuel on the long rest at the farther end arrested free draught, and sent the heat and smoke back to the stokehole. Let the rest be at the furnace door, and the fresh fuel put next the door will be gradually heated; and the hottest fuel, being beneath the bars at the farther end, there will be no back smoke, and little smoke at all, for that will be burned up. In many cases where such changes have been made, we are assured that now all goes right, and that more heat is obtained in the house with half the quantity of fuel. People should act as if they wished to heat their house and not the stokehole. The great evil of having many boilers is, that unless the firing and the damper are carefully applied, much heat goes up the chimney to warm the general atmosphere.

Cleaning Stone Pathways.-Besides the matters referred to last week, we have expended much labour in scrubbing and cleaning the stone flooring in plant-corridors and conservatories. The greater the heat, and the more the moisture used, the more likely the stones to be encrusted with green. In small places the cleaning is often left to the housemaids. In many cases the cleaning is not cleaning at all,but a daubing-over with a layer of whiting, made regular with cloth and brush, which does not look so much amiss until it is damped, or a lady with a long-ness was thoroughly neutralised in some of the cases by the skirted black dress passes along and gets the dress encrusted with the whiting. There are two things here we have no faith in. First, the daubing-up of nice stonework with whiting or limewash, so as to resemble the doorsteps of town or villa residences; and secondly, where there is much of such work, in having housemaids or other women to do it in gardens, or even to attempt to clean the stone and leave it with its natural appearance. This is work which is more suited for, and will be done better by young garden labourers. We have had even the whitening process done more elegantly and regularly by men than we have ever seen it done by women; and as to scrubbingoff the green, there is no comparison-in fact, it is such work that we would not care to see a woman at.

For scrubbing stonework we chiefly use a little sand, hot weak soap water, scrubbing brushes, and house flannel to dry all up, and a very little practice enables the man, if young, to do the work very well indeed. We greatly prefer the natural appearance of the clean flagstone, tiles, &c., to any daubing that can be given to them. When they are thus cleaned the finest dress will not be soiled as when whitestoned or whitening-rubbed. There is no reason why comfort should be lost sight of-the comfort of warm water, and more especially as, after a little soaking, the warm water will enable the workman to clean the stones better, and the warmer the water after the cloth has passed over them in the drying-up process, the sooner will the stones be bright and dry. We have had to wash plant pots with ice in the water; but what was or could be the benefit of it? The pots could not be made so thoroughly clean, and they were long in drying. In the cleaning of stones, in addition to the warm water, scrubbingbrush, and flannel to clean all up by wringing in a pail, we would depend on active scrubbing, as, if there is a little soap dissolved in the water, it must be only a little; and, contrary to general practice, we say, Never rub soap on the brush, as it only clogs it up, and prevents its acting on the stone.

The same simple principles apply to furnaces under boilers. We happen to know of several cases of boiler-heating where the close-cutting system so ruled that there was no dumb iron plate next the furnace door, but the furnace bars came close up to the door, and there was a large, long, dead rest at the farther end. We say nothing of the discomforts; we feel sure that, so far as ultimate wear and tear are concerned, the trifling saving will be a penny-wise-and-pound-foolish affair.

One case has come very prominently under our notice-a conservatory, such as we have noticed above, heated by a boiler, and the flue from the boiler having several turns in the back wall. Sometimes on commencing firing in winter it was found necessary to light a small fire at a soot door in the flue to dry it a little, and then there was no difficulty for the season. It was desirable to make the boiler do more work, and, as it was old, a new one was put in at once. From circumstances we need not mention the work was not superintended as it ought to have been, and the furnace bars were brought close to the furnace vic-feeding-door, consequently a long dead rest was left at the farther end. Pity a chimney-sweeper inured to smoke who should be condemned to stay a few minutes in that stokehole after the fire was lighted! The finest coke could be made to burn in a certain way, but not so as to heat the water or heat the flue properly, though the furnace door would become pretty well red hot. There was a thought of taking the shaft from the furnace to the chimney at once without going a long lengthsome 80 feet at least through the flue; but a fire placed in a soot-opening of the flue burned nicely, yet still the furnace beneath the boiler was a perfect abomination and martyrdom to all concerned. Well, what was done? Neither boiler nor flue was touched, but as much of the boiler-setting was taken down as permitted of some 15 inches of the dead rest being removed at the farther end, the furnace iron grating-bars moved all that closer to the end of the furnace, and a dead plate of the same size, from 12 to 15 inches, placed next the furnace doors; now there is not the least trouble with smoke, &c., and the draught through the long flue is so good that, to prevent the lower range of flue becoming too hot, it is necessary often to use a damper. We feel convinced that many who are in diffi

In cleaning stone we have used salt, soda, and other easy tors of the green, and the result is, we would say to our readers, "Don't." Unless the stone is very peculiarly hard, all such saline ingredients, though they remove rather easily the green coating, will be apt to leave an eating inflorescence on the stone that will give a flowery appearance on the surface for months afterwards, and continue to wear it out. On this account it is not advisable to use such saline matters for cleaning stone in corridors and conservatories. We would even decline to use such helps for cleaning out-door stonework, where after results are to be considered. We have known some stones, a little soft, show this wearing-out flowery appearance on the surface for a twelvemonth afterwards. Stone pathways, out of doors and in corridors and conservatories, look well when kept clean; and, as hinted above, we think they are best every way when of their natural colour, and not daubed over with dirt and filth cover-alls.

Heating.-Next to stoves in a small house, the cheapest mode of heating is by a flue; and the neatest mode of doing this, though not getting quite so much heat, is to have the flue not above, but under the floor level, the top of the flue forming